Firecracker
by Elemental Transmutation
Summary: Slightly AU. Set in 1910. A State Alchemist is transferred into Maes Hughes' division. Chaos eventually ensues! Rated T for later violence and language. Eventual ROYAI and possible HavocxOC Chapter 11 up! Slight Royai in this chapter.
1. Enter: Cassie!

Hi all,

First posted story. Please be kind. Bit of a slow start but please bear with me.

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**Firecracker**

Chapter 1

Maes Hughes picked up the personnel folder on his desk and looked at the name.

_Michaels, Cassandra A._

'Hmm…' he thought. That name was familiar. He'd heard that name before. One of Gracia's friends was a Cassandra Michaels, but they hadn't heard from her in almost two years.

There had been a Cassandra Michaels in Ishbal too. He remembered. She had a reputation that was known throughout the military. Not everyone knew what she looked like and not everyone had met her, but everyone but new recruits knew of her.

Maes had seen and spoken to her only once during Ishbal. A few of his men had made some rather crude comments and she had said something to scare them and then asked Maes to keep his men in check.

The two women couldn't possibly be one in the same, and there was no way that this could be one of the aforementioned women either.

He opened the file and began to read.

_Name: Michaels, Cassandra A._

_Age: 19_

_Rank: Major/State Alchemist_

_Second name: Firecracker_

_Alchemy: Explosions of a controlled size_

_Height: 5'10"_

Maes whistled. 'She's a tall one,' he thought.

He scanned through her medical history.

_Gunshot wound - left shoulder; no movement restrictions, completely healed, full recovery_

_Slash on right side along ribs caused by barbed wire; no restrictions, full recovery._

Those were the biggest ones other than a few broken bones.

After he finished that, he moved onto her service record.

_Time of service so far: 2 years_

_Final year of Ishbal war – _

Used to create distractions

Occasional search and rescue missions

Unintentionally involved in many sorties; saved many lives

_Took alchemy exam post joining military - **Passed**_

_Refused to accept immediate promotion to Major from Second Lieutenant_

'Strange,' thought Hughes.

_Instead created deal with the Fuhrer._

_It was:_

_In Alchemy related situations, i.e. combat as an alchemist or other situations, she held rank of Major. In any other non-alchemy related situations whatever it may be, she held the rank of Second Lieutenant. They were not allowed to just hand her promotions, she wanted to earn them. When and if she reached Major or above, it would become her sole rank._

_This was the deal agreed upon._

_Promotions:_

_Promoted to First Lieutenant in her third month in Ishbal_

_Reason: Completed complex mission while evading capture by rebels_

_Missing for 1 week_

_Reappeared at the camp she was stationed at_

_There were fears that she was followed but those fears were unfounded. Somehow, at the same time as returning to camp she led the rebels in the opposite direction. Suffered severe dehydration and malnutrition._

_Promoted to Major in tenth month in Ishbal_

_Reason: Along with then Major Mustang and Second Lieutenant Hawkeye, she rescued a top covert team that included two state alchemists._

_Received Commendation_

"Wow," Hughes muttered after he finished reading the report "Why do I get the feeling that she's gonna be trouble?"

"Sir," a female voice called.

Hughes looked up at the young woman in his office. She was wearing a blue military uniform (the version with pants) and her epaulettes indicated that she was a Major. She lifted a gloved had and saluted. He assumed that he had seniority of the rank of Major and therefore was still counted as her superior.

Maes saluted back and continued his study of the woman. She wore gloves but they had no circle on them. She had a black shoulder bag slung over her shoulder.

Hughes looked at her face.

She had bright green eyes of the likes he'd seen only once before, though he couldn't remember where. Her hair was a vivid orangey-red.

Her hair sat rather interestingly on her head. The right side was practically flat with three short thin strands falling over her face to create a fringe. The left side sat rather high. The left side was considerably longer than the right. The left side of the fringe fell in front of her face. Part of it curled around and almost reached her right eye. The next part ended just above her left eye and the other three parts framed her flawless face. Her hair was cropped short.

Her hairstyle kind of reminded Maes of Second Lieutenant Maria Ross'. She was a new girl but she was good at what she did.

"I'm Major Cassandra Michaels, the 'Firecracker' alchemist," the woman said.

'Ah, so that's what she looks like. Stupid file didn't have a photo,' Maes thought 'I'll have to fix that.'

"Welcome, Major. No offence intended but, why did they send me an alchemist?" Hughes asked.

"Because, I'm also a decoder and I'm very good at getting the information that I need or want," she replied "Besides, they thought you could use an alchemist around here," she added offhandedly.

"Fair enough, and welcome again," Maes said as he turned and looked out the window behind his desk, gazing at the rainy outside.

"You really have no idea who I am, do you Maes?"

He spun around.

"What do you mean?"

The female Major pulled out her personal Pocket watch and opened it. There was a picture in it.

Hughes walked around his desk and over to the green-eyed Major. When he made it to her, she held out the small silver device to him.

Hughes took the watch from her and looked at the photo. In it were five smiling children at eleven, ten or five.

Maes instantly recognized the photo. He had a copy of it too.

In it was a younger version of himself, Roy Mustang, Jean Havoc, Gracia and a young green-eyed, red-haired girl. The little girl's hair reached the middle of her back.

The girl was about five, Gracia was ten and the three boys were eleven.

"Oh my…," he trailed off and closed the small pocket watch and looked at it.

He recognized it. He, Gracia, Roy and Jean had all pitched in to buy the exact watch he held in his hands for the little girl in the picture. They had given it to her on her eleventh birthday because she kept losing track of time or running late for things.

On the front of the pocket watch were three beautifully, intricately crafted metal flowers.

Maes flipped the watch over and looked at the back. It was there, the inscription was there. It read: 'Hopefully this'll help you keep track of time.'

"It worked, y'know," the young woman said, briefly interrupting Maes' thoughts.

That comment confirmed it. The girl in the photo was the same friend of Gracia's that they hadn't heard from in two years, the same soldier he'd seen once in Ishbal… and the same Major that now stood in front of him.

"OH MY GOD! Cassandra!" Maes yelled.

"The one and only, Maes. Sure took ya long enough to recognize me," she said with a smirk.

Oh yeah, Maes remembered her now. That smirk was unmistakeable. It could rival even Roy Mustang's. If Maes recalled correctly, they'd even had a smirking contest at one stage…

He handed the small silver pocket watch back to Cassandra. She placed it in her jacket's breast pocket.

"It's been so long, Cassie," he started "I insist you come to dinner at my house tonight. Gracia will be thrilled. Oh, and guess what! She's gonna have a baby!"

Cassie laughed as pink hearts floated around Maes' head.

"Y'know, the guys back home got a real shock when they found out that you and Gracia got married. I mean, no one thought you would because you two used to argue all the time."

"Yeah, well, things change."

"Oh, and Maes? I'd be glad to come to dinner tonight. I have absolutely no food at my new apartment."

"Great! I'm sooo glad it was you that got transferred here and not someone else!"

The two old friends chatted amicably for quite a while. Hughes, of course, showed pictures.

Eventually, the rest of Hughes' subordinates entered the office for work that day.

Maes and Cassie had both gotten there quite early.

When the subordinates walked in they were shocked to see another Major. Quickly, and smartly, they saluted her as well as Maes.

Both Majors returned the salute.

"Who's this, sir?" Second Lieutenant Maria Ross asked.

"This," Hughes said "Is Major Cassandra Michaels, the 'Firecracker' alchemist. She was just transferred."

All of Hughes' subordinates gasped.

Firecracker was one of the military's top alchemists. She could make _anything_ explode. Give her any substance or material and she could blow it up, even the noble gases.

It was a known fact that she had to constantly wear gloves unless she was performing alchemy, because the circles that she uses are tattooed onto her palms. If she accidentally clapped without her gloves on and she didn't focus on any particular substance, depending on how far apart she moved her hands before stopping them, she could cause a large nitrogen explosion.

Another known fact, was that she was the only one of her exam group to finish the entire paper, but she didn't have gloves on, clapped without thinking while focusing on her paper and accidentally caused a nitrogen explosion that blew up the last half of her test paper.

The observing group of officers heard the explosion and ran up to see what had occurred. A female General, for safety reasons, gave her gloves to Firecracker to wear so that she didn't blow up anything else after they realised what had happened. The Fuhrer had thought it was hilarious.

It was a well known story among the military, especially State Alchemists.

But, why was she here in Major Hughes' division…?

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R&R please! Hope for at least 1 review before I post again. Should be able to add Chapters 2 and 3 tomorrow. 


	2. Photos, Roy and Exploding bins

Yay! Chapter 2!

Forgot the disclaimer on the first chappy so here it is.

Disclaimer: I do not own FMA or its characters. The only thing I own is the plot of this story and Cassie.

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**Firecracker**

Chapter 2

She'd been here for five hours and already Hughes had shoved picture after picture in her face, she was sick of it.

Slowly, trying not to draw attention to her hands, she started to pull her gloves of so that she could use the Transmutation circles tattooed on the palms of her hands.

To use her special brand of alchemy, she needed two separate circles that had to be clapped together and then pulled apart to activate it.

Depending on how far apart her hands are when she stops them after the clap the explosion's size can be small or large. The further apart her hands are, the bigger the boom. It also depended on the substance.

She was gonna make a big boom with those photos. She had the gloves off and was about to clap when she spotted someone start to walk into the office.

The man spotted Hughes with photos and quickly tried to escape. The man was Cassie's salvation.

"Lieutenant Colonel Mustang!" Cassie called. She saw the man flinch, turn around and walk back into the office.

Mustang glared at Cassie and Cassie smirked at him.

Hughes was oblivious to the silent exchange between Cassie and Roy.

"Roy!" Maes greeted as he turned to face his friend "I've got some photos to show you!"

"I hate you," Roy mouthed silently at Cassie.

Cassie's smirk turned into a _huge_ cheesy grin. "I love you too," she mouthed back, silently.

Roy's glare intensified but he was forced to stop when Maes suddenly appeared in his face.

Photos were shown again and again.

Everyone but Hughes and Mustang sweat dropped. Hughes had hearts floating around his head and Mustang had anger marks appearing.

Whether they were directed at Cassie or Hughes, no one could figure out.

20 minutes later and Cassie had had enough. She'd almost been hit by several low flying floating pink hearts and was sick of having to duck or dodge every 30 seconds.

Cassie stood up behind her desk, pulled her gloves off again, found something in the room to blow up and clapped.

A rubbish bin near Hughes' desk blew up with a loud bang.

Everyone but Cassie jumped. They looked over at the smoking spot where the bin had been and then looked at Cassie.

They were shocked at what they saw.

There was fire in Cassie's green eyes. Her hair had changed colour slightly.

The tips were their normal orangey-red colour, but from there to two centimetres before the scalp her hair was blue. Starting from where the blue ended, her hair was white.

After about 20 seconds, Cassie's hair faded back to its normal orangey-red and the fire in her eyes disappeared.

Everyone stared.

"Now," Cassie said calmly, too calmly "I suggest that you," she said pointing to Hughes "Put the photos _away_ and you," she pointed at Mustang "Get back to your office before Riza comes looking for you and shoots you."

Both men followed the suggestions made by the pissed off Major.

Calmly, Cassie put her gloves back on and sat down to continue her work.

No one spoke again until lunchtime.

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R&R please! 


	3. The Hughes Residence

Chapter 3! I know it's kinda slow but please stay with me. Action is coming up in a few chapters, I promise!

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**Firecracker**

Chapter 3

Finally, the end of the day came and no one could be happier than Maes Hughes' subordinates.

Maria Ross and Denny Brosh were the first to escape, err… leave. The others quickly followed.

Cassie had just finished packing her stuff in her bag, slung it over her shoulder and stepped out in front of her desk when Maes grabbed her upper arm and began dragging her from the office.

Maes grabbed his jacket off of the coat rack on the way out without stopping.

Cassie managed to grab her coat before she was forcefully dragged from the room. She heard the coat stand fall to the ground behind her.

"Come on, Cass-Cass," Maes said cheerily as he dragged Cassie down Central Headquarters' corridors. A few officers gave the two Majors odd looks as they made their way out of the building.

"I _hate_ it when you call me that!" Cassie yelled.

"I know. That's why I do it," Maes replied.

"Grr… uh… Maes you can let me go now. We're outside Central HQ grounds."

"Huh?" Maes stopped and looked around. Behind him were the gates to Central HQ. "Well whadda ya know?" he finished. He released Cassie's arm and kept walking.

Cassie ran to catch up to her friend Maes.

"Hey, Maes, don't you have a car?" Cassie asked from beside him as the two walked.

"Yeah, but I don't need it to get to work," Hughes said, pulling on his black coat.

"Whatever," Cassie said back, also pulling her black coat on. The day was getting cold fast.

35 minutes later they arrived at the Hughes residence. The sun was almost completely set by the time that the two arrived at the door.

Maes opened the door and let Cassie and himself in. They took off their black coats and hung them on the stand by the door.

"Gracia! I'm home! And I've got a surprise for you!" Maes called into the house.

"Just a minute! I'm in the kitchen! I'll be right there!" Gracia's voice called back.

"Um… Cass, go hide over there," Maes pointed to a shadowed depression in the wall in the hallway.

"Okay," Cassie replied. Quickly, she walked over to the shadowed depression and hid in it.

Maes shuddered as Cassie seemingly vanished into the shadows. The woman was _very_ good at camouflage.

Maes heard footsteps and turned to face the direction they were coming from. A few seconds later Gracia stepped into view.

"Hello, Maes," Gracia greeted. She then gave her husband a hug and a kiss.

Gracia glanced at the coat rack and saw two black coats. She did a double take. _Two!_

"Maes, honey, why are there two coats? Is Roy here?" she asked.

"No. Someone else," Maes replied in a singsong voice.

"Who?" Gracia asked "And what's my surprise, honey?"

"Come on out!" Maes called "This is your surprise," he spoke to his wife.

Gracia turned around and faced the direction Maes was facing.

Out of the shadows stepped a red-haired woman with green eyes. The woman smiled brightly.

Gracia stared at her for a moment and then realised who it was.

"OH MY GOD! Cassie!" Gracia screamed.

The two women screamed and embraced each other. They broke apart, glanced down at Gracia's slightly bulging tummy, looked at each other, screamed and embraced again.

Maes winced at the pain caused to his ears from the two women's squeals of joy.

After the women finished squealing they walked away towards the kitchen, Gracia leading, and talked all the way.

This left Maes standing alone, forgotten, in the foyer.

After a few seconds of shock, Maes walked to the phone. Before he dialled he called out to Gracia.

"Hey, Gracie! Do you mind if I invite Roy and Jean over?"

"Not at all! Give 'em a call and invite them over!" Gracia called.

"Yeah! It'll be good to have the old group together again!" Cassie called out.

The two women giggled.

Maes sighed and began calling Roy and Jean. He had a feeling that he would need the guys around to survive the night.

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R&R please! 


	4. Meetings and Remeetings

Here's chappy 4! I hope people are reading this. If you are, I know it's starting slow but I promise that there'll be lots and lots of action _**real**_ soon. That Royai I promised will be coming in soon too, so stick with me please! _begs on hands and knees_

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**Firecracker**

Meetings and Re-meetings

Chapter 4

20 minutes after Maes placed his calls, Roy and Jean arrived at his house.

The two men met outside the door.

"Havoc? What're you doing here?" Mustang asked Jean.

"Hughes invited me over for dinner saying that I was to come to his house for dinner and to hurry," Havoc replied.

"He told me the same thing," Mustang told Havoc.

A female scream came from inside the house.

Both men ran to the door and began pounding on it and ringing the doorbell.

"Hughes! Open the door! What's going on!" Roy yelled.

Maes opened the front door and swiftly pulled Roy and Havoc into the house. He then quickly shut the door and locked it.

Roy and Jean took their black coats off and hung them on the stand. The two guys noticed that there were two coats already on the stand.

"Hey, Maes," Roy said "Why are there already two coats on the stand? Last time I checked, you were the only one in the military in this house."

"I'm still the only one," Maes replied.

"So why are there two coats, Maes?" Roy asked again.

"Because Cassie's here," Maes replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"'Cassie'?" Jean repeated.

"Yeah, Cassie," Maes said turning to Roy "Y'know, red hair, green eyes, she was in my office, blew up my bin…"

"Ah, yes, now I remember," Roy said, grimacing and sounding a bit miffed.

Jean Havoc had no clue what they were talking about and was left standing there completely confused and lost in his own thoughts.

The three men, two in uniform and one not, turned to face the direction of the kitchen as they could hear footsteps coming form that direction.

A few seconds later, Cassie, still in uniform, stepped around the corner.

"Food's ready!" she called. She scanned over the three men. "Hello, Roy. Jean," she greeted the two newcomers.

Cassie turned and started to walk down the hall back to the kitchen.

The three guys stood there, stunned.

"It's her," Jean mumbled with a slight smile.

"Are you coming?" Cassie called from out of sight.

"Yeah, yeah, we're coming," Maes called back.

"Well then hurry up. Jean, get rid of that cigarette, that's a filthy habit. Roy, stop scowling. And both of you, stop giving me that look!" Cassie yelled.

"How'd ya know!" Jean and Roy yelled back, while Maes was busy trying to suppress his laughter.

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R&R please! 


	5. Going Home

Ack! I forgot the disclaimer again!

**Disclaimer:** Not mine. Never will be. I only own Cassie.

The action I promised is coming up in the next few chapters. So stay with me. Also, please note that the comment that Cassie made to Roy under her breath in Chapter 2 was not suggesting some sort of relationship other than friendship. I am a strong Royai believer. In fact I am worshipping the sign I found at the end of my story 'Rain Drop Reflections' as I type.

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Firecracker**

Going Home

Chapter 5

Dinner passed rather uneventfully. The five friends used the time to catch up with each other.

After dinner, they continued to talk. They drank a few cups of coffee, tea or hot cocoa.

Several times they expressed how good it was to see each other again.

By the time they ran out of stories to tell, it was getting late.

The three guests decided it was time to leave and headed to the door. Maes and Gracia followed them. They continued to talk as they prepared to leave.

Roy grabbed the coats off of the stand, figured out whose was whose and handed them to their owner.

Cassie took her coat from Roy and put it on. Jean did the same. Roy then put on his coat after the others were out of his hands.

"It was good to see you again," Cassie said.

Behind her, Roy opened the door. The two male guests stepped out to wait just outside the door.

"You too," Gracia said as she and Cassie hugged. They pulled apart. "Don't be a stranger now."

"I won't. I don't think that Maes would accept that. Especially since I work in his division now," Cassie replied. She stepped outside with Jean and Roy.

"Bye!" the three of them said in unison as they walked down the path.

"See ya!" Gracia called.

"See ya at work tomorrow! And I'll have _plenty_ of new pictures!" Maes called.

Roy, Jean and Cassie flinched. 'Oh no!' they all thought.

Maes and Gracia closed the door as soon as their three friends were out on the footpath outside their yard.

For 10 minutes, the group of three walked in companionable silence. Each was merely enjoying the company of each other.

After the 10 minutes they started talking about anything and everything. They also brought up old stories from when they were growing up. Most of the stories were embarrassing moments from their past. Mostly Havoc's.

Roy was the first to depart. He had to turn down some streets that weren't on the way to either Havoc's or Cassie's, so they split up. This left Jean and Cassie alone.

They continued to talk.

10 minutes after Roy split off, Havoc had to turn down some other street that wasn't on the way to Cassie's new apartment.

Jean offered to walk her home but she told him it wasn't necessary, that she only lived a few more blocks away anyway.

So, Jean said 'See ya tomorrow' and left, and Cassie was alone.

'Just like before,' she thought.

She continued to walk, feeling somewhat depressed.

"You think I'd be used to being abandoned and left alone by now," she whispered to herself.

Five minutes later she arrived at her building. She took the elevator up to her floor, the fifth, and went to her door. She opened it, walked in and turned on the lights. It was bare save for several boxes with different labels and a mattress with sheets on it.

She took off her boots and coat off and went to take a quick shower. When she came back out 10 minutes later she was ready for bed, but she wasn't tired.

She sat down on her bed and grabbed the alchemy book she was reading off of her 'nightstand', which was actually and empty, upside down box, and settled down to read some more of it.

At some stage she must've dozed off because next thing she knew, it was time to get ready for another day of work.

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R&R please! Also, I now accept anonymous reviews. I'm talking to you all you lazy people who have viewed my stories and not bothered to comment. 


	6. A Picturesque Explosion

Just a short piece of humor that I pulled outta nowhere.

**Disclaimer: **Not mine. Never will be. I only own Cassie. Besides if I did own FMA, things would've been very different and the series would've followed the manga more closely.

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**Firecracker**

A Picturesque Explosion

Chapter 6

'**BOOM'**

"Ahhh! My pictures! How could you!"

"If you didn't want them to get blown up, you should've kept them OUT OF MY FACE!"

"But… but…"

"But nothing!"

"But you didn't blow up just one or two… you blew up NINE! Nine of my beautiful photos!"

"I'm sure you have copies!"

"Well, yeah… but…! That's not the point!" Maes screeched.

"If you don't get out of my face and get back to work," Cassie threatened "I'LL BLOW THEM ALL UP!"

"Eep!" Maes quickly scampered back to his desk.

'Well I'm never showing her photos again!' Maes decided in his mind 'Unless she asks,' was added to the tail end of this decision.

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R&R please! 


	7. ARMSTRONG ATTACKS!

A little action, more humorous than anything. Serious action in two **2** chapters! Review and it'll get to you quicker!

**Disclaimer:** I've said it before and I'll say it again... NOT MINE!_mutters_ Though I wish it was.

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**Firecracker**

ARMSTRONG ATTACKS!

Chapter 7

The next few days passed uneventfully… until the day Major Armstrong returned.

_Apparently_, Armstrong needed to see Hughes for some unknown reason.

When he walked into the office he saw Cassie casually leaning on Major Hughes' desk while talking to the owner of the desk.

Everyone in the room turned to the door when they heard it fly open and hit the wall. All but Cassie jumped/flinched when they saw who was at the door.

Major Armstrong's ever present sparkles multiplied when he saw the new Major.

"Ah, welcome, Major!" he practically bellowed as he moved towards the unsuspecting red-haired green-eyed Major.

"Uh, hello, Major. I-I'm Major Michaels, the 'Firecracker' alchemist," Cassie said, stuttering a bit. She was intimidated by the sparkling Major moving towards her, his arms spread wide.

"Ah! The great decoder and alchemist, Firecracker! One of the military's finest!" Armstrong continued towards Cassie, who now had a fair idea of what was about to happen.

"Thank you for the compliment, Major. But I'm not that great!" Cassie half-shouted desperately, beginning to sweat. She didn't need this, it was only 10am.

"Ah, so modest! And polite!"

Armstrong, the 'Strongarm' alchemist (A/N: Am I the only one who's noticed that Armstrong and Strongarm are the same name, except backwards?), stopped in front of Cassie and pulled her into a bone-crunching hug. Cassie's feet were about 3 feet off the ground due to the extreme height difference.

Maes could swear he could hear the poor woman's bones cracking from the extreme pressure being exerted on them by Major Armstrong's hug.

Everyone had suffered one of Armstrong's hugs at least two or three times, some people had suffered more, so Maes and his subordinates all knew how painful it was.

When Cassie was pulled into the hug, all of the air in her lungs was forced out with a muffled (Armstrong's chest was in the way) 'Oof!'.

She managed to get her head away from his chest and tried to breath, but it was pretty much useless, she just couldn't get enough oxygen.

The last thing she saw before she was engulfed in darkness, were Armstrong's sparkles. Forever more would she be afraid of sparkles.

Armstrong finally released the poor woman, but she fell to the floor having out about 10 seconds previous.

Denny Brosh and Maria Ross quickly shooed Armstrong from the room saying that Lieutenant Colonel Mustang wanted to hear his family history. Upon hearing this, any concern he had for the woman he had accidentally knocked out instantly vanished.

20 seconds later, Cassie woke up.

Slowly, but surely, consciousness returned to Cassie.

What had happened to leave her unconscious, she wondered silently.

Suddenly her eyes shot open as she remembered.

Armstrong had happened that's what, she realised.

"Ow," she muttered, then more loudly (and worriedly) "Where is he?"

"Don't worry," Brosh said. Cassie could see his face as he, Maes and Ross were kneeling next to her with their faces above her.

"We managed to get rid of Major Mega-muscles," Ross finished for Brosh. She smiled empathetically. She too had been on the receiving end of one of those hugs before.

The three of them helped Cassie sit up.

"We would've warned you," Hughes started with a serious face "But we didn't expect him to do that. By the way, try to avoid giving Armstrong an excuse to hug you and more importantly, flex his muscles at you."

"Why?" Cassie asked.

"It ain't pretty. It's actually kinda scary," a male voice called from the other side of the room.

"Oh, okay."

Cassie got up and they all went back to work.

And believe it or not, this all happened in less than a minute.

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R&R or else!

Next Chapter: **Prank after Prank for revenge of a Prank**

Buckets, Hair dye, eggs, a locker room and much more. What could go wrong?

I'll let ya wonder.


	8. Prank after Prank for revenge of a Prank

Hi everyone who is reading!

Come on, review! I know people are looking at it. I checked the story stats. Please stay with me. Action in the next chapter. Lots of action!

Kimbley turns up. You know there's bound to be action when he's around. He goes psycho!

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**Firecracker**

Prank after Prank for revenge of a Prank

Chapter 8

The next few weeks passed with many a disaster.

There were several rounds of pranks for vengeance over, first, the 'Mustang wants to hear your family history, Armstrong' incident and then revenge for the revenge after Mustang pulled a prank on Maes, Denny Brosh and Maria Ross.

Mustang's retaliation to the 'Armstrong incident', as it had been so colourfully dubbed, was to lock Maes in a room without his photos and lock Brosh and Ross in there with him. He almost let Brosh and Ross out after a few minutes thinking it too cruel, but he didn't. Instead every 10 minutes after the first two hours, he slid one photo under the door and made them endure Maes' stories. They were eventually released by Cassie, who overpowered Roy and had him knocked out in a corner.

Brosh and Ross decided it was in their best interest _not_ to try and strike back lest they be forced to stay locked in a room for 10 hours with Maes again.

Maes struck back with buckets of water falling off the top of doors and onto Roy. It was very effective. Maes never left one in the same place on the same day and because of this, all of the officers learned to look at the top of doors before opening them. Maes did this for nine days, setting up ten bucket traps a day. He was going to go for ten days but stopped after it backfired on the last one on the ninth day.

He'd decided to add some semi-permanent flame red hair dye to the mixture this time knowing that it would dye Roy's hair red for about two or three weeks. It did work. Unfortunately, the intended person was not the recipient of the bucket full of hair dye. It got one Riza Hawkeye instead.

Maes had bolted and ceased the bucket on door pranks.

Roy retaliated with his own bucket prank. He got Maes with a few buckets of custard to test it out first and then decided to try a bucket of paint. He set the prank up on Maes' office door and hid where he could see the door but couldn't be seen. A red-haired Riza watched as well, somewhat eager to see Maes get pranked for dying her hair red. It hadn't even begun to fade.

Sadly, this prank also backfired and got an unsuspecting Cassandra Michaels instead of the intended Maes Hughes.

Cassie ended up with blue all through her hair, all over her uniform and all over her face. When she came to work the next day her uniform was clean. Her hair, however, was still almost entirely blue and there were several splotches of blue on her skin. She was not in a good mood at all that day, or for the next few days after that either.

Maes got revenge for the custard buckets by pushing Roy into a very small, open supply closet and locking him in. What he didn't realise however, was that Riza was standing in front of Roy when Maes pushed him in. Easy to say, that closet got many odd looks and blushes throughout the day when people walked by and heard a lot of movement coming from it, as well as a male _and_ female voice.

The two were finally set free when Havoc opened the door the next day, recognizing the voices and hearing them calling out things like 'Let us out!' and 'Whoever lets us out gets a pay raise!'.

Roy's revenge was to shove Maes into the Women's locker room. Poor Cassie was the only one in there at the time and was also in the middle of getting dressed.

Many shrieks and screams of terror were heard from the locker room. Someone pounding on the door could also be heard as well as many explosions.

When a young female recruit opened the door a few hours later to go take a shower after a long day of training, she found a completely stunned and charred Maes Hughes on the floor just behind the door. Patches of his uniform were missing obviously having been burnt or destroyed by some other similar method. The young woman just backed out of the room, deciding to shower at home.

Then came the prank that ended it all. Somehow, both men came up with the same prank. They decided to go back to the buckets, but this time they were not to be filled with something as simple as water, custard, hair dye or paint. Oh no, this time they were filled with eggs.

This prank would've been brilliant had it not backfired.

Roy and Maes were each walking towards their own office not wanting to be around when their prank went off when they met along the way.

"But wait," they both said "If you're here, then that means… OH NO!"

"AHHHHH!" came two screams from two directions.

"Uh oh," both men whimpered.

Two **_very_** pissed off women rounded the corners on either end of the hall. Both had egg shells and egg splattered all over them. Riza's hair was still mostly red and Cassie still had some blue streaked through her hair.

"Superior officer or not...!" Cassie yelled as she pulled her gloves off, her eyes full of rage and fury.

"You two are dead!" Riza finished, pulling her guns out. Her eyes burned with the same rage as Cassie's.

The two men screamed a very shrill, girly, unbecoming of men of their status scream as they hugged each other in fear, seperated and took off down the only other hall.

Cassie and Riza were right on their tail firing bullets at them and blowing things up as they went. If they caught Maes and Roy, they were dead.

They chased Maes and Roy all around Central HQ attempting to and actually hurting them. Not one single person even tried to help the two men.

-----

The Fuhrer stepped out of his office to head home. He locked the door behind him and turned to leave when he heard thundering footsteps coming his way. Accompanying those footsteps were wails and screams of fear and terror, gunshots and the sound of explosions.

A few seconds later, Lieutenant Colonel Mustang and Major Hughes bolted past him without a second glance. Without a first one either. They were the source of the screams, but that didn't explain the gunshots or explosions. Then, just as he thought this, Major Michaels and Second Lieutenant Hawkeye ran past, obviously chasing the aforementioned men. They didn't see him either. The two women were the source of the other sounds.

It was obvious to the Fuhrer that the two women were going to kill their superior officers if they caught them by the look in their eyes. He didn't dare interrupt. He was well aware of the pranks and their backfirings.

-----

Everyone at Central HQ knew that it was Maes and Roy that had been setting up the pranks the entire time, they'd also heard about or seen them getting chased. Something that everyone noticed was that after the 'catch n kill' incident, the pranks ceased.

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R&R puh-leeze! 


	9. Kimbley's revenge

A/N: Hi everyone! I'm back and I'd like to thank my **two** wonderful reviewers. Finally, someone has moved their lazy hand to move the mouse and click the review button.

Thanks to: **Dailenna** and **Maija**

**Disclaimer:** FMA is not mine, maybe in my dreams, but not in the real world. _sigh_ The plot of this story is mine and so is Cassie.

Possible OOCness. You have been warned.

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**Kimbley's Revenge**

**Chapter 9**

"Hello, Major. How can I help you?" the military receptionist asked.

"I was looking for Major Kimbley, the 'Crimson' alchemist. I don't suppose you can tell me where to find him?" Cassie asked the female receptionist hopefully.

"Um…" the woman looked thoughtful "Ah! You're in luck, he's just over there!" she pointed somewhere behind Cassie.

Cassie turned and looked where the receptionist was pointing. A man in a military uniform was walking through the halls, eyes downcast, hands in his pockets and looking extremely bored. His epaulettes had Major's insignia on them.

"Thank you!" Cassie called to the receptionist as she ran over to the man. It didn't take her long to catch up to the man. "Excuse me, Major Kimbley?" she asked as she walked alongside the man. He was about two or three inches taller than Cassie, even slouching.

"Yeah," he grumbled, glancing at Cassie "Who's askin'?"

"Me," Cassie replied, trying to be tolerant of the man's bad attitude.

"And you are…?" he asked.

"I'm Cassandra Michaels, the 'Firecracker' alchemist!" Cassie replied. She then said "Hey. You look familiar. Have we met before?"

"I don't think so."

"Oh, well, no matter. I wanted to talk to you because you're the only other state alchemist who can create explosions. You and I are the only ones."

"I find that hard to believe," he replied, not really paying attention to anything the somewhat cheery alchemist had to say.

A few seconds passed with neither of them speaking.

Then, Cassie stopped.

"Hey, wait! Now I remember you!" she exclaimed.

Kimbley stopped, turned around and looked at Cassie questioningly, actually a little curious as to where she recognized him from. He stood five feet away.

"You were one of the two alchemists on the covert team that me, Mustang and Hawkeye rescued!" she finished.

Kimbley suddenly looked angry. His fists were out of his pockets and balled at his sides. His whole demeanour showed nothing but rage. He glanced around the hall. It was empty except for the two of them. 'Good,' he thought.

"That was you! You stupid bitch!" he screamed at Cassie.

Cassie looked taken aback.

"I had a plan! But you, that bitch Hawkeye and that bastard Mustang ruined it!" Kimbley raged.

"Well, excuse me for saving your life! And if I remember correctly, your hands were shackled this far away from each other!" Cassie moved her hands about 3 feet apart. "You're like me! You need two circles to use alchemy and with your hands bound that far apart, there was no way you could've clapped!" she shouted at Kimbley.

Kimbley was now seriously pissed off. His body shook with rage. He ripped off his gloves, clapped and started to lunge at Cassie.

"Shit!" Cassie exclaimed as she spun around to run away.

Before she could get two steps, she felt one of Kimbley's fingers contact with her neck on the left side about mid way between her jawbone and shoulder directly down from her ear.

She tried to dodge away, but his finger ended up running in a line from its point of contact to the knot on her spine at the base of her neck.

The instant Kimbley's finger came away she felt the flesh where his finger had touched explode. Blood sprayed and gushed from the wound at an alarming rate.

Cassie collapsed to the ground with a loud, shrill scream.

She rolled onto her back, ready to kick him, jump up and escape when the opportunity arose.

Kimbley pounced at Cassie but she managed to kick him in the gut with her left leg. This was only enough to stop the crazed man for an instant.

This time when he pounced, he was successful and landed on Cassie, straddling her hips.

Still, they were the only two in the hall.

Cassie looked into Kimbley's eyes. Just from doing that she could see that he was insane.

'What in the hell set him off!' Cassie screamed in her mind.

Of course, had she been thinking rationally she probably realised that there really was no logical explanation behind the attack. The man was insane.

Kimbley placed one of his hands on Cassie's mouth to muffle her screams and used the other to punch her in the stomach, chest and ribs. He kept on hitting until she bit the hand that was covering her mouth.

He drew the hand back and then punched her solidly in the jaw. He then punched one of her eyes.

She started to scream, but Kimbley covered her mouth and began to beat her again.

This time when she bit him, she drew blood.

"Stupid bitch!" he yelled at her.

He didn't punch this time. Instead, he ripped her jacket open and began to mash, knead and press down on her breasts hard. He did it so that it would cause a lot of pain.

Cassie managed to get one of her arms free while he was doing this and punched him squarely in on the nose. She heard and felt it snap and watched in morbid fascination as Kimbley's blood gushed from it.

This made Kimbley even angrier. He removed his hands and tugged her dark brown turtleneck t-shirt until it came untucked from her pants. He reached his hands under it and slid them up to her breasts. He pushed her bra out of the way and then squeezed both breasts very painfully. (A/N: You ladies out there know what I mean)

Cassie screamed out in agony.

She swung her left leg up and managed to kick her attacker in the back of the head. To do so her leg had had to come up at a 90° angle. Cassie was so glad that she had taken gymnastics when she was younger now.

Kimbley released Cassie's breasts and pulled his hands out from under her shirt. Her shirt slipped back into place as he did this. He shifted so that he had access to the top of her legs. He clapped his hands and placed them around mid-thigh on her left leg. He removed his hands and jumped off of Cassie.

A few seconds later, Cassie's left leg from mid-thigh down, was no more.

She screamed in agony. The pain was blinding.

Her blood was now sprayed all over the hall. It was on the walls, on the floor and on the ceiling. It also covered the front of Kimbley. Some of the blood even sprayed on Cassie.

She was fading fast. She had lost a lot of blood and was about to pass out, yet she continued to scream. She could hear Kimbley's crazed laughter.

Cassie stopped screaming for a moment and looked directly into Kimbley's eyes. They gleamed with insanity.

"Why?" she asked weakly.

Kimbley moved closer and knelt down next to her head. He bent over so that his mouth was next to her ear.

"Because I didn't want you to live. Not only to I hate you for ruining my plan, but I can't afford to have you around. Especially seeing as you're more powerful than me and _female_," Kimbley sounded disgusted.

He stood up, moved away and began to laugh again.

When he spoke again he sounded gleeful. "But I don't have to worry anymore… because you're going to die!" he continued to laugh.

'The rumours were true,' Cassie thought 'He did go insane during the Ishbal war.'

Another wave of pain hit her and she screamed so loud that the entire half of the HQ building she was in heard her.

Her vision started to turn black. Colours faded into grey and then black. All of her pain vanished and her body felt like it had pins and needles. That numb but tingly feeling.

The last thing she heard before unconsciousness claimed her was Kimbley's insane laughter and the footsteps of many as they rushed down the hall, hopefully to try and rescue her.

But she couldn't help but think that they were too late.

'This must be what it feels like to die,' Cassie thought sadly 'But I'm not ready to die. I've got so much more to do. I want to live. I _must_ live. I **_will_** live….'

Just as she finished this thought, her last ounce of consciousness fled her.

* * *

I don't think that Kimbley was OOC. He was just insane.

Please remeber that this story is AU. I have not or will not do a flashback for the rescue he mentions. I might if you want me to.

R&R


	10. Rescue

Hi everyone.

**Dailenna:** Thank you for reviewing again. I'll see what I can do to work it in. I've already written quite a ways in. I think I have about 22 or so chapters now, but I'll definitly see what I can do. Maybe I'll work it in as a nightmare or something. What do you think? BTW, glad to know someone is actually reading this and liking it. :)

**Thanks reviewers:** Dailenna (x2) and Maija

You guys rock!

Anyway, Dailenna, I got your review and decided to go ahead and post this just for you because it makes me so happy to know that someone other than my bestie _coughMaijacough_ likes my story. May much good fortune come your way.

**

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**

**Rescue**

Chapter 10

Major Armstrong, minus his sparkles, was running behind a group of 10 soldiers as they rushed to help whoever kept screaming.

The person's screams were gut-wrenching and they terrified the soldiers. What terrified them more though, was when they suddenly stopped.

The group of 11 rushed around a corner only to be confronted by a most horrifying scene. A scene that could easily be from someone's worst nightmare.

In the middle of the hall was a bloody mess of a woman. She was covered in blood. Her crimson blood was pooling around her head, neck and shoulders and also around what remained of her left leg.

There was blood spattered all over the walls, ceiling and floor. It was also coating an insanely laughing man.

_Kimbley._

Major Armstrong noticed that one of the younger soldiers in the group lost the contents of his stomach near one of the walls. He sympathized with the young man. Armstrong too felt like throwing up.

"Major Kimbley!" Armstrong yelled as he and the group of soldiers approached the horrifying scene. Kimbley stopped laughing and turned to look at Armstrong. Kimbley still had a mad glint in his eyes and he had an insane grin on his face. "What did you do?" Armstrong asked.

"I killed her," he said gesturing to the blood covered woman "I killed Firecracker!" Kimbley started to laugh again.

His laughter was interrupted however, when Firecracker coughed loudly.

"NO!" Kimbley lunged at Firecracker.

Two brave soldiers from Armstrong's group ran forward, tackled and pinned Kimbley. They held his arms down. More soldiers joined the original two to help hold the mad man down. Eventually all ten were holding him down.

"No!" Kimbley screamed, struggling against the ten soldiers pinning his arms, legs and torso. "No! She must die!" He managed to fling one of the soldiers off, but that soldiers just got right back in there and helped hold Kimbley down again.

Armstrong scooped up the barely alive Major and bolted down the hall. He ran as fast as he could to Lieutenant Colonel Mustang's office, as it was the closest office full of allies and the hospital was in an entirely different building.

He burst through the door and thoroughly startled everyone in the office.

Armstrong couldn't help but look out the window as soon as he rushed through the doors. It was raining. He then looked at the soldiers in the room.

Everyone dropped what they were holding.

Hawkeye's gun (she was cleaning it while at the same time threatening two people in the room) clattered to her desk, Mustang's gloved right hand fell to the desk from its preparing to snap position, Hughes dropped his photos (you don't need to be told why he's there), Havoc's cigarette fell from his mouth, Kain Furey dropped the paperwork he was carrying, Falman dropped his pen and Breda dropped his full coffee mug.

Many different swears were heard in the room.

Hawkeye was the first to overcome the shock of seeing the bloody mess in Armstrong's arms that was her friend. She rushed to a closet in the office where different supplies were stored, wrenched it open and ran in. She went straight to the section of the closet with medical supplies.

Mustang stood up and turned to face the closet.

"Here it comes!" Hawkeye shouted.

A few seconds later a plastic package with something black in it flew out of the closet (obviously having been thrown by Hawkeye) and Mustang caught it with seemingly practiced ease.

He tore the packet open and pulled the black fabric out. He left it folded and threw it Frisbee style across the room to a waiting and in position Furey.

Furey caught it and roughly unfolded the fabric (which is actually a blanket), grabbed two of the end corners and made it go straight mid-air. Havoc caught the other end and both men brought the blanket to the floor.

Armstrong gently placed Cassie on it.

While this was happening, Hawkeye had been throwing other medical equipment, i.e. bandages, saline solution, gauze, anti-septic, etc., to Mustang, who in turn threw it to whoever could catch it.

Finally, Hawkeye dashed out of the closet and over to a phone. Mustang and Hughes rushed over to where the others were already trying to stem the bleeding.

"I could cauterise the leg?" Roy suggested after several minutes of trying to stop Cassie's leg from bleeding, while all the while listening to Armstrong explain what he knew of what happened and the conclusions that could be drawn from that.

Hawkeye was currently holding a large piece of fabric she had found in the closet against Cassie's leg stump, having finished her call to the paramedics who were on their way. Her hands were covered in Cassie's blood and there were a few streaks on her face from where hand had touched when she was moving hair out of her face. She was doing the most work as she had the most medical training out of all of the soldiers in the room. She needed this training in case the man she was protecting ever got hurt.

"Do it," Hawkeye told him. She removed her hands and the now blood soaked cloth.

Roy was about to snap when a weak, pale hand grabbed his wrist leaving blood on his glove, wrist and uniform.

"Don't," a weak, raspy voice said.

Mustang looked at Cassie's face. Her eyes were barely open. Her features were drawn in pain.

"If…you do…I…can't get…Automail," the effort that it took to stay conscious _and_ speak coherently was quickly draining what little energy Cassie had. "Please?" she pleaded.

Mustang nodded and lowered his hand. He would honour his friend's wishes.

Cassie passed out when Hawkeye pressed the cloth onto her leg again. Cassie's hand fell limply back to her side.

The group of soldiers could hear the military Ambulance's sirens as it pulled up outside the capital building.

The flashing red and blue lights were visible in Mustang's office reflecting off of the walls and casting a eerie glow on everything and everyone. The lighting in the office continuously changed colour from red-to-blue-to-red in a cycle.

Everything seemed to slow down as the group of soldiers/friends watched helplessly as the paramedics took over and rushed Cassie, on a gurney (stretcher with wheels), from the room.

Maes Hughes, Roy Mustang, Riza Hawkeye and Jean Havoc gave chase.

Furey, Breda, Armstrong and Falman had been ordered to stay behind with a promise to call later and tell them the news.

Riza drove them to the Military hospital in her car, following close behind the ambulance.

They all prayed that Cassie would be okay.

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A/N: Riza and Cassie became friends during Ishbal. Both worked with Roy. Riza worked more closely with Roy than Cassie but Cassie was still there. She often helped other groups as well, providing them distractions to get in and outsafely. 

Riza and Cassie shared a tentas they weresome of the only females out there.

About the closet. With the amount of times Mustang get shot at or burns someone, they probably need those medical supplies. That, and it's also a stationary cupboard, anda place to store random things that I don't feel like listing.

I hope you liked it. Make sure you review.

R&R!


	11. At the Hospital

Hello! Well, here's chapter 11 for all my readers out there!

**Disclaimer:** Not mine. All I own is the plot of this story, Cassie and any other OC's and volumes 3 and 5 of the manga.

In this chapter that Royai that I promised makes its first appearance.

Any OOCness in this chapter can be blamed on the ordeal. Especially on Riza's part. Please remember that it is a very disgusting sight.

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Chapter 11

**At the Hospital**

The four military officers were waiting silently in one of the military hospitals waiting rooms.

Mustang paced back and forth in the waiting room. Hughes was sitting in a chair, eyes watching Mustang but not really watching. His eyes were distant and glazed. He was in deep thought. Havoc was seated in another chair about halfway across the room. His trademark cigarette was no where to be seen. He was also in deep thought.

Riza was in a chair way on the other side of the waiting room, her legs drawn up to her chest. Her head hung low with her chin resting on her chest, her forehead on her knees. Her blood covered hands were resting on the back of her head. Her face still had streaks and smudges of blood. There was some one her uniform and her hair.

All four of them were trying to erase the image of the bloody hallway from their mind, especially Riza. She had been the first to round the corner of the hallway and see the mess. Almost immediately, she had thrown up. Mustang had rubbed her back while she vomited.

Riza felt a hand on her back and looked up. It was Mustang.

During his pacing, Roy noticed that Riza had her head down. She'd probably had the worst time out of all of them.

He walked over to her and placed a hand on her back soothingly. About 5 seconds after he did this she looked up at him, her eyes were dull and she barely registered him being there.

Roy sat down to her right and watched as she unfolded her body. He noticed her pallor. She looked as if she might collapse at any moment.

Blood coated the front of her uniform and the right side of her face from where she had slipped in the blood in the HQ hall and slid along in it.

Roy was brought out of his thoughts when Riza placed her head on his shoulders. He looked over at her. Her legs were drawn up to her chest again with her arms wrapped tightly around them.

Roy placed an arm around Riza's shoulders and held her close. He rested his head atop hers.

30 minutes passed and no one moved or spoke.

Finally after another 10 minutes, a doctor came out. The four soldiers walked over to him.

"Are you all here for Cassandra?" he asked.

They all nodded.

The doctor scanned over the four people and recoiled slightly when he saw Riza.

The doctor continued to look over them, taking in the sight of their bloody military uniforms. He then asked them what had happened. Only the three guys spoke. Riza remained silent and still, eyes to the ground.

After the doctor got the full story, he too was shocked and sickened.

A few minutes of silence passed.

"How is she?" Riza asked softly, her voice raspy.

All of the men, including the doctor, jumped slightly at her voice. She had been so quiet that they'd forgotten she was there.

Roy, Jean and Maes were glad to hear her voice as she hadn't spoken a word since just after she'd slipped in Cassie's blood, 5 hours previous.

"Well, with what you've told me," the doctor looked them all in the eye and stopped on Riza "She shouldn't even be alive…"

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Well I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The next chapter is called **Awakening**.It's really short but neccessary for the story.I'll post it after I get some reviews and whenever I get the computer next. 

Trust me, you would be OOC too if you slipped in a pool of one of your friends' blood. She just needed comfort.

Doesn't Royai rock? BTW, the all powerful ROYAI sign still exists. It is open for praising and worship 24/7.

E.T.


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